Metroid Levitas
by Offski
Summary: Samus is becoming increasingly disillusioned with Federation life. They have everything 'under control' until they receive a cry for help. Now she has another chance to investigate a rebel planet but will she be content to follow orders?
1. Introduction & Disclaimer

Metroid Levitas

Written by Offski

Disclaimer: That's right, you guessed it. I don't own Metroid, Samus Aran or any of the other Nintendo trademarks used in this story. Deal with it.

Synopsis: Samus Aran is becoming increasingly disillusioned with life in the world created by the Galactic Federation. Everything is kept 'under control' and nothing exciting ever happens. That is, until they receive a cry for help. Now the bounty hunter has another chance to investigate a rebel planet but will she be content just to follow orders?


	2. A cry for help

(Message received)  
(Location: Rayta Quadrant – Co-ordinates unconfirmed)  
(Sender: Agent Nat Hayes NH82 )  
(Priority: Urgent)  
(Emergency transcription: Decoding + O + Complete)  
(Message begins: have no time.almost here.must leave craft.crashed.engine ruined.too visible.almost here.can survive.send help.important.metroid.other creatures.digging.almost here.no ammo.survive.caves.metroid here.danger.noises.almost here.digging.too close.hide.send help.metroid :Message Ends)

The three men read the message, the dull green light of the screen reflected on the worried looks in their faces.

"Metroid" said the first man, a Galactic Federation officer "this is trouble"

The second man, his assistant sounded terrified "Digging, danger, noises, almost here, what do you think those things are?"

"They may not be any more than armoured beetles, the mind can play tricks on you when you're alone and far from help" The officer was thoughtful for a moment, then said "No, it's this I'm worried about" he tapped the screen "Metroid"

"And he wants help" said the third man, a Federation war advisor "Well anything to do with Metroids invariably ends up with one person"

"Samus Aran" said the officer, slowly.

The assistant was surprised "Samus Aran, but sir, you can't–"

"I don't see what the problem is" the officer said "If you want to give somebody assistance, I can think of none better than sending Samus Aran to help them"

His assistant seemed unconvinced "She isn't bound to us any more sir, we can't give her orders, only requests"

"And you don't think she'll accept a request to explore another rebel planet?"

"Well no sir, not really, I thought she was in semi-retirement and this would be a big mission"

"Hah, retirement!" scoffed the third man, "One like her could only retire when they are no longer able to lift themselves into battle, if we give her a request, she'll come running, without a doubt"

"Well if you really think so…"

* * *

(Message received)  
(Location: Alpha Quadrant – Galactic Federation Communications)  
(Sender: Officer Leon Peters LP02 )  
(Priority: Important)  
(Quick transcription: Decoding + O + O + Complete)  
(Message begins: An urgent cry for help has just been received, a rebel planet in the Rayta Quadrant. The message was rushed but there were definite signs of Metroid activity as well as other hostiles, presumably indigenous creatures. If you wish to investigate this, please report to service station RY419. I know you are interested in this subject so I have informed you of this before sending out the formal orders to the Federation agents, I don't think you will disappoint me :Message Ends)  
(Message Delete: Confirm Y/N – Y)  
(Message Deleted)

Samus Aran, seven times honoured agent of the Galactic Federation, leading research officer on the Metroid project, most decorated bounty hunter in the known universe. Samus Aran sighed, rolled over and went back to sleep.

Several hours later, she stirred and eventually awoke, eyes and mind bleary from the night before, she got dressed tiredly and sat up, looking into the mirrored wall that faced her. It reflected an attractive, strongly built woman in her early thirties, bearing the scars of many hard fought battles and the eyes… were those of a warrior, a warrior who has withstood everything they have had thrown at them and come out fighting, a warrior that gave no quarter and demanded none, a warrior who has seen the world stand still while others saw it flash by in an instant that lasted the rest of their lives.

This warrior was currently tired. Tired of what the world had become. Secure, careful, sterile, there was no place in this world for a warrior like her. She was working as a researcher now, a scientist! Samus Aran, veteran of so many battles, wearing a white coat and walking around a lab looking at things in tubes. It was almost criminal, the way the Federation kept everything under control, troopers stationed in every sector of every quadrant ready to jump like dogs as soon as they sniffed any hint of trouble, of danger. That was what Samus Aran needed to survive, danger. And now the Federation was sucking it from the known Universe.

She sighed as she trudged towards her ship. Another day at the office was all she had to look forward to in this, this sterile world. The business with the Ing horde on Aether was almost four years past and she was, well, bored. It didn't seem right, after all she had what she wanted, she had withdrawn her services from the Galactic Federation and was now a free agent, but to no avail. Her considerable talents as a soldier and bounty hunter were not needed any more.

Sterile, she thought as she set the co-ordinates of the route to the Metroid research lab into her ship's computer. Even the Metroid research was becoming sterile, all they were doing now was covering old ground, the Metroid's ability to drain life power was no less inexplicable than before, but they had no way of cracking the puzzle without more Metroid DNA. If only the Federation hadn't rooted out all traces of hostile alien activity from the world. If only there was still a rebel planet, hiding away somewhere…

As the ship skimmed through space, she happened to glance down at her monitor and absent-mindedly read the label on the only blip in the region.

Rayta Quadrant – Service Station RY419.

Samus paused and frowned at the screen. _Metroid_. She closed her eyes and tried to recall…

Something stirred in her memory. Suddenly opening her eyes wide, she silently interrupted the autopilot and swung the ship towards the dot on her radar, the sudden excitement of adventure welling up in her breast.


	3. A new challenge

The door slid open and Samus Aran entered. The two men looked up from the monitor they were studying and greeted her.

"Sit down Samus" said the first, a Galactic Federation official who she knew only as Harvard "I trust you received Leon's message, yes?"

The other man, Leon Peters, was an old friend of the bounty hunter's, and rose to greet her, shaking her hand vigorously.

"You know Samus, when we got this emergency signal, I knew you were the perfect agent for the job"

"Thanks Leon, but don't forget I'm not actually an agent any more"

Leon waved a hand dismissively "Hah, a technicality that meant we could stop paying you for sitting around and doing nothing, I know you'd still be with us if there was anything to do"

"Well you've got that right Leon, I'm really not the kind of scientist they need at the Metroid research centre" she said with a grin "I prefer the practical side of the work"

"Then this is just what you need" Harvard interrupted their small talk "You may wish to look at this"

Samus approached and looked down at the screen they had been studying. The emergency message was still glowing faintly on the screen.

"What do you think?" asked Leon, after she read the transcription "right down your street, am I right?"

"Well–" she began, but Harvard cut her off.

"As you should know, the Rayta Quadrant is one of the largest sectors of non-Federation territory" he paused "and also one of the least charted"

"A rebel planet" Samus said, then looked at Leon "right up my street"

Harvard coughed impatiently "It is important that you take this seriously Samus, it is a rebel planet, and we have no idea what kind of creatures may inhabit it"

"Same as usual then" said the bounty hunter, dismissively "I've already accepted"

"Excellent" Leon replied "When do you think you can set off"

"Now wait a minute, Peters" Harvard fumed "She needs some kind of briefing and objectives"

Samus grinned wryly as Leon turned to face the Federation official "Sir, I don't believe you've ever examined a report on one of Samus Aran's missions have you?"

"Not in any great detail, no"

"Then you would not know that when Samus Aran is given a mission, Samus Aran does what is needed, Samus Aran makes her own objectives, and nobody disagrees" Harvard looked bemused as Leon continued "Believe me, if we send Samus Aran on this mission, Samus Aran will do what is needed" and here he glanced at her "Or die trying, am I right Samus?"

Samus grabbed the message disc and turned towards the door "Die trying? Why would I do something stupid like that?"

Harvard shouted after her as she walked away "Don't forget, if there's anything we can do to help"

Leon put a hand on his shoulder in order to restrain him "Don't worry sir, there isn't" he said, as he left the room.

* * *

Samus sat down on the edge of her ship, silently savouring what she was going to do. For the first time in more years than she cared to imagine, she was actually going to explore another rebel planet, the mere thought of being able to once again take her Chozo-crafted battle suit into battle had her heart pumping.

Unconcerned by the orders and objectives of the Federation briefing, she had only one thought in her mind as she entered her ship, she wanted to get to this planet as soon as she could. Such was her haste that as she was looking in the storage space at the back of her ship, she did not notice the shadowy figure of Harvard climb over to her cockpit and drop something inside before slinking away.

Satisfied that her supplies were all adequately stocked up, Samus returned to the front of her craft and entered the cockpit.

"All set, lady?" Adam Malkovich, the AI personality of her former commanding officer, asked her as she started up the ship's systems.

"All set, Adam" Samus lent back and typed in the co-ordinates of the distress signal "Here we go…"

* * *

Leon Peters and Harvard watched Samus' ship ascend from the service station until it was lost from view.

"So you gave it to her?" Leon asked.

"Left it in her cockpit" answered Harvard, "she'll find it, Peters, don't worry"

"To be honest I'm more worried about you" Leon started walking back towards the doors of the station "When she gets back from there"

"You mean 'if' she gets back" Harvard replied. He was still staring into space, and was now noticeably worried "I'm still not confident that she can face this without any real briefing"

"I know what I mean" Leon gave a small, mirthless laugh "Samus Aran has survived through a lot, consequently she has become quite good at it"

"I just hope you are right, Peters. Because she will need to be extremely good if she hopes to come back from this"


	4. An unknown enemy

…send help. metroid :Message Ends)  
(Priority: Urgent)  
(Transcription: Emergency)  
(Sending message + message sent)

The agent gathered together the last of his functioning equipment as he prepared to leave the wreckage of his ship. Those damn creatures were coming again, he couldn't hear them, but he couldn't hear anything else either, the caves always seemed to go silent before an attack. The temporary force field generator that had preserved him so far was almost out of power, but Galactic Federation Agent Nat Hayes wasn't planning to give them a meal after making them wait this long.

He thought idly of the enemies he was facing as he checked his gear. The burrowing life form was completely new to him, they could tear through stone or metal at a terrifying speed and they were numbered in their hundreds, thousands even. Fortunately they were vulnerable on every part of their body but their heads and a simple blaster shot was enough to defeat them.

Then he thought of the Metroid, and shuddered. Something like that shouldn't be so _fast_. He had read through reports of them before and from what he had gathered they were tough to beat, but relatively easy targets. This one was… terrifying. He hadn't even seen it clearly more than once or twice and already he dreaded the sight of the lightning-fast silver Metroid.

Metroid… Anyone that knew anything about that word knew about Samus Aran. Samus Aran, if only she was here they'd be out of this nightmare in no time. He thought of the videos he'd seen of her, dodging aliens in leaps and bounds, sending back shots, rockets and bombs. So efficient, so professional, so perfect… He was brought back to reality by the sound of his power generator emitting an early warning tone. He'd have to get out of here soon, since he might need to use that power somewhere else before all this was over.

Suddenly, his heart leapt into his mouth as he heard the noise again, the noise that had haunted him for most of the last week or so, the tunnellers were back. He thought for a moment, a few minutes before they break through, he had just enough time. He had to get out _now_. He grabbed the generator, turned off the force field, and ran towards a path through the caves. This was it then, from now on he was on his own unless the Federation sent aid.

Hopefully the message would reach someone, even out here on the bleak frontier of known Federation space. "They must pick it up" he murmured as he hurried through the tunnels "They'll send somebody, they have to"

* * *

Several miles out from the service station, Samus Aran glanced around at the Chozo-crafted battle suit stood in a cradle in the space behind the cockpit. It had been so long since she had used it, and now…

The time had come for her to shine again.

Switching the ship onto autopilot, Samus swung herself back over her pilot's seat and stood in front of the suit. She stared at her reflection in the green visor.

"This is it" she murmured, "another round, me against the universe"

* * *

"Peters!" yelled Harvard, strolling out of the analysis room.

"What is it?" Leon Peters looked enquiringly at the Federation Officer.

Harvard put a pile of documents onto the desk that Peters was sat at "You call yourself an expert on Metroids?" He pulled out a file from the sheaf of papers in front of him and thrust it into front of his face.

Leon Peters took a look over the document.It explained how the only know appearance of the mysterious Metroid species, Levitas, had been on a small, unknown planet in the otherwise, completely desolateRayta Quadrant. It had attacked a Federation scout vessel that had stopped to perform minor repairs, accompanied by a multitude of small, burrowing creatures that were individually weak but deadly in large numbers. The ship escaped after the crew was almost wiped out, and when it was found weeks later, the few remaining crew members had already starved to death.

"Levitas" he said, almost whispering.

"You're damn right it's a Levitas, Peters. How do you think Samus Aran is going to have any chance of going up against something like that?"

Leon Peters stared at the document for a moment then murmured "Don't worry about it". He dropped the file back onto the desk and turned to his own work

"What?" Harvard was almost screaming at the man in front of him "The Levitas is unstoppable, even by her"

"She'll find a way" Leon tried to wave Harvard away, but the Federation official had spotted the delay and heard the quiver in the voice.

"Peters, you know she can't handle this don't you?"


	5. Into danger

Nat Hayes hurried through the tunnels, feeling heartened. He must have beaten them, mustn't he? They were all the way back at the clearing looking through the wreckage of his ship for him, while he was well on his way to a more easily defendable, and more importantly locatable, location. The Federation agent quickly glanced around the cavern he was in, listening hard. When he was certain there were no signs of life he sat down in a corner to get his breath back. This wasn't so difficult, was it? He could get used to these one-man missions, there were lifelines everywhere for those resourceful enough to look for them.

He checked his force field generator, still ten or twenty minutes worth of energy on there, no trouble whatsoever. He was about to set off again when he froze, was that a noise? The soldier strained to listen, and then shrugged shoulders and carried on. There was no way they'd be on his trail yet, surely…

* * *

Samus looked through the green tinted visor of her battle suit at the surface of the planet. 

"What a dump" she complained, manoeuvring her ship into a hovering position as she looked down at the barren, rocky terrain far below.

"Co-ordinates have been confirmed, this is the location" said Adam.

"Life-signs?"

"Not from this range"

The bounty hunter looked over the monitor screens in front of her and frowned. Something wasn't right, the readings were inconsistent.

"Adam, can you show me a full view of the planet?"

"Certainly, just give me a moment"

Samus stared at the image and saw that the same side of the planet always faced the sun. Half of the surface was desolate rock and ice, the other half was covered in volcanic mountains.

"Surely nothing can survive for long on there?" she asked Adam.

"If you will look at these locations, Lady" the image on the screen rotated and zoomed in "there is a thin strip of jungles and caves between the two faces of the planet. This is most likely where our target will be found"

"Then that's where I'm headed". Samus closed down the monitors and swooped down towards the planet's horizon, where she could now see a dim red outline against the grey-blue rock below her.

On the floor of the cockpit lay Harvard's package, so far undiscovered.

* * *

"Sorry sir, the signal was lost" 

Harvard was fuming, and now noticeably shaky. All of their attempts to contact Samus so far had been unsuccessful.

"She's getting further and further away, Harvard." said Leon Peters, who was sat nearby in deep thought "Her communication systems just won't be up to picking up such a weak signal"

"Then we at least have to send a squad after her" Harvard turned to one of the staff, "How soon can we get a squad ready?"

"Well, to load supplies and alert the –"

"No!" Leon almost shouted, "If Samus Aran can't beat it, sending regular soldiers would just be manslaughter"

"Well then what do you suggest we do, Peters?"

"I'd tell you if I could get a chance to think for five minutes!"

"You really think that there's any way she can go there and come back alive?"

A thought seemed to strike Leon and suddenly his eyes gleamed "Imagine if she could bring back a sample of the Levitas. The advances in research could be phenomenal!"

Harvard rubbed his eyes while he tried to formulate a response to this. "Peters, she's going to face a Levitas. We'll be lucky if it sends us a sample of Samus. Can you get your priorities right for a moment?"

"You don't understand, a sample of Levitas DNA would –"

Harvard cut him off "Listen to me, Peters" he waved a hand at the ceiling "Samus is somewhere out there beyond help, Nat Hayes is probably dead already, are we just going to let her die?"

Leon blinked then looked at Harvard "She's not… completely beyond help."

* * *

Samus landed the ship just outside the caves, on the dark side of the planet. "So, what's the mission, Adam?" she asked, a wry smile playing about her lips. 

"You know the drill, lady. Get down there and get rid of anything that gets in your way." Adam answered "And don't forget to look for agent Nat Hayes as well."

"Roger that, Adam" Samus saluted him as the hatch opened and she climbed out into the cold alien world. The bounty hunter looked around at the terrain while she got used to the feel of the battle suit again. Hopping down from her ship, now in the familiar hovering position, she sighed contentedly.

"It's been a while"

* * *

**Authors Note:** Hope you're all enjoying this, leave some feedback if you can and remember, criticism is much more useful than praise (although not as nice). Expect a longer chapter next, featuring the start of the action! Until Next Time... 

OzGuR


	6. Face to face

(Message received) (Location: Rayta Quadrant – Service Station RY419)  
(Sender: Officer Leon Peters LP02)  
(Priority: Vital)  
(Quick transcription: Decoding + Complete)  
(Message begins: Attention Agent Hayes, we have received you----ssage ---u---r-n is o----r way. Wh--------r----s, you mu----vacuate -he pla-------mediatel----u are i---reat dang----s long as yo---re there. evacu-te im--diately :Message Ends)

Nat Hayes looked at the message his transceiver had picked up. From this range, he was surprised he could even get a message to civilisation, let alone receive a reply. They must have been really desperate to get this message to him, it had been sent before it was fully transcribed. He wondered who they had sent, and why they needed to evacuate immediately. Surely they could have sent a squad capable of subduing the burrowers?

Then he thought of the Metroid, bright silver, lightning-quick. He shuddered and set off again, eagerly awaiting any assistance from the Federation.

* * *

Samus walked through the caves cautiously, taking in her surroundings and occasionally glancing at her radar. These were strange tunnels, almost perfectly cylindrical. After all of the Chozo architecture she had seen on her travels, it was a little strange to be on a planet completely devoid of intelligent life. 

_Except for…_

If there was a Metroid here, she promised herself, she would keep it out of the attention of the Galactic Federation. Too many times they had insisted on performing research and experiments on Metroid samples and every test had ended in another failure, let alone another attack by the space pirates. Of course she wouldn't be able to let it go free, she figured she'd deal with that problem when she got to it.

The bounty hunter was snapped out of her reverie by a faint noise. It was only on the edge of hearing but her trained and experienced senses could pick it up. It sounded like…

"Digging?" Samus frowned as the words on the message screen flickered across her memory. She armed her blaster and proceeded cautiously through the tunnels. The sound was definitely coming from ahead of her and, more worryingly, slowly getting louder and nearer as she walked forward. She switched to her infra-red vision and, sure enough, there were several faint orange glows a short distance ahead and getting nearer.

_Some kind of burrowing beetle_, she thought, _the_y_ must have made all these tunnels. Well I should know how to deal with these after Tallon IV and Aether._

Setting herself, Samus aimed her blaster at the wall in front of her and walked slowly along the tunnel. Before long, the sounds became louder and more noticeable until, suddenly, the wall in front of her exploded in shower of rock and soil. The bounty hunter began firing immediately and was rewarded with several shrill cries as the beam burned through the shells of the beetles.

_Simple,_ thought Samus as she looked down the hole at the charred bodies of her enemies.

Suddenly, with a crash, the wall behind her was ripped asunder as more armoured claws tore through the stone like it was paper. Instinctively, Samus rolled to her right, turned, and let off a missile. The explosion collapsed most of the cave wall, crushing the creatures but also blocking off the tunnel behind her.

"Perfect", she thought. "I guess I'll be here for a while"

* * *

He could hear them now, closing in on him quickly. There seemed to be no way of escaping from them. Agent Hayes wondered if he was going to have to make a famous last stand. Except that out here in the back end of nowhere, there would be nobody to remember him. 

_I don't want to die like this._ He thought. _All alone, light years from home, forgotten…_

He looked at the garbled message again, had they sent help? He couldn't make out what the message said other than to evacuate immediately, and he couldn't do that unless he had a working ship. The federation agent was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of gunfire, distant, but unmistakeable. Hope rose in his heart at the thought of escaping, and he started to run when he realised that the creatures in the stone all around him were all travelling that way as well. Cursing, Nat Hayes drew his weapon and hurried towards the source of the noise.

* * *

Samus was having difficulty with the tunnel, the explosions from her missiles had made cracks in the stone all around her and some parts of the cavern roof were already giving way. Almost crawling through the small gap left by one such collapse she heard the noises again, the burrowers were back. 

After forcing herself out of the rubble and back onto her feet, she was thrown off balance by the eruption of rock beneath her as the first burrower broke through the tunnel floor. It was immediately fried by a blast from the bounty hunter's Chozo-crafted arm cannon.

Samus, however, was already stumbling backwards from the initial impact and when another burrower flew out of the side wall she toppled onto her back. In a heartbeat, the beetle-like creature was upon her, the ferocious jaws darted at her visor. With lightning reflexes she spun herself onto her front, throwing the visceral alien into the wall, and incinerated it with her cannon.

She had no time to rest however, and as she jumped to her feet there were another two crashes and another two burrowers dropped from the roof and leapt for her face. One was caught by the cannon but the other managed to grip her shoulder with its prehensile jaws, as yet another burst from the cavern floor.

Samus flung herself into the wall, knocking the creature off her armour and dodging the other one as it lunged for her throat. She killed the one at her feet with a quick shot from her cannon then aimed at the other one only to see its back end disappearing into the stone as it dug through the hard rock with frightening speed.

* * *

Nat Hayes rounded the last corner and saw his salvation ahead of him. It was Samus Aran! And she was fighting off the monsters with consummate ease. The agent watched in awe as she finished off the last few monsters then began to shout a greeting. 

The cry died in his throat and his blood turned cold as the pale form floated past him.

Wondering what the burrower had fled from, the bounty hunter turned and stopped dead, staring at the ghostly image in front of her.

_Metroid…_


End file.
